Political Chops
The term, “Chops” is derived from 1940s jazz slang referring to the technical, physical mastery (lips and jaws) required to play wind instruments. In a political context, it translates to the "technical mastery" of political work. "Political Chops" refers to a person's demonstrated ability, technical skill, experience, and competence in navigating the political landscape and formulating policies. It signifies having the necessary expertise to handle demanding political roles effectively, often implying one has "earned" their standing through experience.
Many well-known Democrats showed up at the recent Munich Security Conference to display their “Political Chops”. The highlight was New York Democrat Congresswoman, Sandy Cortez (AOC) who turned up there, over the past weekend, to get a taste of world geopolitics. Sadly, Sandy did a world class bellyflop as she was unable to form a cogent answer to this fundamental American foreign policy question.
“Would and should the United States commit troops to defend Taiwan if China were to move on the island democracy?”
AOC responded with the following unscripted word salad answer.
“Um, you know, I think that, uh, this is such a, you know, I think that this is a, um, this is of course a very long-standing, um, policy of the United States. Uh and I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point and we want to make sure that we are moving in all of our economic research and our global positions to avoid any such confrontation and for that question to even arise.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is clearly not ready for prime time and her oratorical skills are obviously the result of her attendance at the Kamala Harris School of Public Speaking. This Congresswoman from New York, who some may want as a future President, paused more than once and took roughly 30 seconds to offer those insights. Her answer is especially remarkable because she could have taken cover by stating that it is U.S. policy to decline answering that question.
What we do know about Sandy is that she understands bartending, socialist politics and whining on social media. She thinks that Venezuela is below the equator and doesn’t believe that the Spanish conquistadors who reintroduced horses to North America, were the originator of cowboy culture. Anything requiring real intelligence, education or an actual understanding of what is in the United States’ national interest is as foreign to her as humility is to Obama.
Once she was questioned about the Middle East situation by a Fox News interviewer who corrected her on some wrong answer. The interviewer noted that she repeatedly used the phrase "occupied Palestine", then asked her to explain the term. She laughed and said, “Well I’m not an expert in geopolitics.” No fooling. As Trump would say, “What a beauty.”
Obviously, she hasn't learned much in the seven years. She simply regurgitates the talking points fed her by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) had the best characterization earlier this week when he said, "Life is hard -- it's harder when you’re stupid!"
Sandy wasn’t alone in making the pilgrimage to Munich. Michigan’s Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer was there and was equally flummoxed when asked a foreign policy question about the war in Ukraine. She struggled to answer and even looked to a Trump ambassador for an answer. Then she said AOC knew more about foreign policy than her. The national and Michigan media has insulated her ignorance for the last 8 years.
Then there is the jet-setting, gadfly governor of California, Gavin Newsom. This piece of work injected himself into the world forum, sharing his vision of great leadership while dissing President Trump. Gavin conveniently forgot to share with the world his success as a master high speed train builder and the compassionate leader who ended homelessness in his state. Whoops, wrong guy.
The Nation used to have Democrats like Adali Stevenson, John F. Kennedy, Sam Nunn, Tip O’Neil, Dan Rostenkowski, Scoop Jackson, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, serious thinkers who helped guide the trajectory of government. Now the Democrats have a bunch of empty-headed dolts who vote along party lines and scream that they’re fighting against this or that, without actually understanding the issues.
Politicians like Sandy Cortez, Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom are voted into office by an ignorant electorate. Maybe those voters are in real need of “Political Chops”.